Anyone who has visited a college campus recently can testify to just how attached students are to their iPods and cell phones. But in the wake of an attempted attack on an 18-year-old student at El Camino College, students must reassess their personal habits and become more safety conscious.

Police at the Torrance area college issued a campus alert Sunday after a student fought off an attacker in a campus parking structure. The incident took place 6:45 p.m. Friday as the student was walking alone to her car in the Lot F lower parking structure along Redondo Beach Boulevard.

Police said she was grabbed from behind but was able to fight off the assailant, who fled the area. The woman, who was listening to an MP3 player at the time, was not hurt.

Campus police should be credited with quickly issuing the alert and getting the information to the media over the weekend.

Over the past year, two other women were sexually assaulted on the campus. Such cases are not easy to solve. The only description of the assailant police released in the most recent case was “unknown sex, race, height or weight possibly wearing gray sweat pants and white Nike shoes hands had the strong odor of a tobacco product.”

This week campus police are reminding students to be especially alert and to recognize that the use of iPods and cell phones can distract students when they truly need to be alert to their surroundings.

Other good advice is not to walk alone on campus, especially at night. A campus security shuttle now operates from 5:30p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Monday through Friday to help students get around safely.

And when in a campus parking structure, don’t park next to vans. Their sliding doors can be used to pull crime victims inside.

We trust that the safety benefits that were promised to voters when they approved a bond measure for campus improvements in 2002 will begin to pay off. The proceeds of Measure E are allowing the college to move forward with installing video cameras, better lighting maintenance and a system for mass e-mails and text messages during emergencies.

Of course, none of those things can guarantee the safety of all students on the campus, where the enrollment exceeds 25,000. That’s why students need to continue to exercise caution and report any unusual or suspicious activities to the campus Police Department.